Hold up business cards. Ask how many people have yours. No idea? Well, with linkedin you do.

this is your best opportunity to make a great first impression, and it is essen- tial to attracting connections.

You only have 120 characters at the top of your profile to describe what you do to the world and grab their attention. use brief, descriptive, compelling key- words so the right professionals on LinkedIn can discover you.

use descriptive keywords that you quoted in your headline if possible, and be sure to describe your role for each position.

this is your chance to really describe who you are and how you help people. I recommend that you write your summary in the third person. otherwise, you’ll be using the letter “I” quite a bit, which can be off-putting.

utilize customer-focused keywords, as these are the terms that will help you show up in search results within LinkedIn. when thinking about these key- words, brainstorm words and phrases that people in your target markets might search for to find someone with your background, experience, and ser- vice offering.

Request recommendations that can be displayed on your profile. The best way to receive recommendations is to first give them! Hint: You will need at least three recommendations in order for LinkedIn to label your profile “completed.”

each of these terms will be hyper-linked and will take you to other users in the network who share these interests.

customization will optimize your LinkedIn profile to show up in search results on major search engines when someone searches for your name. It is important to claim those results for your name as they provide a gateway into your personal brand.

Under the “websites” section of your LinkedIn profile, you can list up to three urLs. choose the “other” option when setting up each of these links and describe them with relevant terms. for example, rather than using the terms “my website,” I use “smart social pro blog.” Not only is this more descriptive, but it also gives me a better opportunity to rank for these keywords in search engines.

you can have more than one twitter account listed. give folks an additional method to use to connect with you!

you want other professionals on LinkedIn to be able to find you and contact you anytime. being invisible won’t help you build your network.

I use this application to bring in presentations that I&apos;ve uploaded to slide- share. It gives me a chance to show my expertise visually. Also, you can em- bed video or audio into your slideshare presentation that will automatically play when someone visits your LinkedIn Profile. This can certainly be an effec- tive way to make your profile stickier. Most likely, if the visitor hears your voice they will scroll down to this part of your profile.

we are what we read. don’t miss this opportunity to create a window intoyour passions and interests by showcasing and reviewing your latest reads. Alternatively, when you are searching through profiles on LinkedIn for potential connections and introductions, you can glean the same insight about others if they have this application installed.

personally, I love this application because it gives me the opportunity to showcase the part of my schedule that mostly involves connecting! I want my connections to see where I’m traveling and also the events I’m attending. don’t miss any opportunities to meet a LinkedIn connection face-to-face.

With these applications, you can automatically pull blog posts into your profile. If you are taking the time to create great content on your blog, you must get it out into the world.

the LinkedIn polls application allows you to essentially conduct your own re- search, either simply within your own network or to a more targeted audience of professionals, which is a paid resource. I have found polls to be an effec- tive tool for understanding my audience. you must make sure that your poll is simple to understand and that your questions are compelling. otherwise, you may not get much response.

upload your contacts from outlook, webmail like Hotmail, gmail, yahoo, AoL, or other address books. you can do this via the “Add connections” tab. then you can log in to your email and find who has a profile on LinkedIn. Look at the contacts, which are now available in “Imported contacts” (under “contacts” in the menu on the left). the people who are already on Linke- dIn have a small blue icon with the letters “In.” since they are already using LinkedIn, they will be open for a connection with you. select them. write a semi-personal message to them. first check “Add a personal note to your invitation.” then replace the standard “Hi, I’d like to add you to my network” message with something re- lated to how you know them. you can’t make it too personal when you use this method because you have selected several people.

while you are waiting for people to accept the invitations you sent, you can add more people to your network via a different method. Again, you are first focusing on the people who are already on LinkedIn because they will be more open to accept your invitation. use the tools LinkedIn provides for retrieving colleagues and classmates. Since LinkedIn works with the information in your profile, it is important that you already have completed the information about the companies you have worked for and the schools and universities you’ve attended. Look up your current and past colleagues’ profiles on LinkedIn. You can also do this via the same menu and then clicking on the “colleagues” tab. Here, you will see all the companies that you have listed on your profile, as well as how many people from each company are already LinkedIn members. click on one of the companies listed. you will get a list of people. select the people you know. write a personal message to them if you are going to invite them one-by-one or write a semi-per- sonal message if you want to invite them in batches. repeat this for all your previous companies. Now do the same for the people with whom you went to school or college via the tab “class- mates.”

You can do this by visiting someone’s profile and looking at their connections on the right-hand side. If you see someone interesting, invite that person to connect.

If you find someone with whom you’d like to connect, see if you share any mu- tual connections. Ask that connection if he or she can make an introductionto the new person. please remember that what you are now doing is building a relationship. don’t sell at this stage. If you find someone with whom you’d like to connect, see if you share any mu- tual connections. Ask that connection if he or she can make an introductionto the new person. please remember that what you are now doing is building a relationship. don’t sell at this stage.

this will give you a genuine opportunity to interact with individuals of thosegroups and will help you increase your visibility. people will start to contactyou.

If you set up an alert, LinkedIn will send you an email every week with newprospects.

As you watch who your network interacts with, you might notice opportunitiesfor building valuable relationships. If someone mentions someone interesting,ask for an introduction.

Just as tweets can be a powerful way of sharing your knowledge, so can the LinkedIn status update. while only your LinkedIn connections will see your status update in their network updates, you can display your status update for public visibility so that those who visit your profile can see what you are say- ing. LinkedIn is not twitter and it is not about quantity of updates, but rather quality. Aim for two to four updates a day on information that you find compelling or noteworthy. For instance, you can share news about your company that might be interesting to your target demographic. Note that businesses can also make updates via their company page, as mentioned earlier in this ebook.

LinkedIn Answers is a Q&amp;A database submitted by LinkedIn users. many busi- nesses with real problems are posing questions on LinkedIn Answers because they know that answers will come from members of the professional commu- nity with real profiles attached to their names, not anonymous submissions from who-knows-who like on past internet Q&amp;A sites. there are a total of 22 answer categories that cover most industries and disciplines, and some of these categories have multiple sub-categories. LinkedIn is not twitter and it is not about quantity of updates, but rather quality. Aim for two to four updates a day on information that you find compelling or noteworthy. For instance, you can share news about your company that might be interesting to your target demographic. Note that businesses can also make updates via their company page, as mentioned earlier in this ebook. this is the forum for you and your company to display your expertise by responding to questions that appear in the category(s) where your target audience is most likely present. Not only do the answers you submit to LinkedIn Answers become part of your profile (should you want them to be), but they are also indexed by google and thus may come up in future search results. furthermore, if the answer you provide is chosen as the “best Answer” by the person who sub- mitted the question, you have the potential of being listed as an “expert” on the page of your target category and/or sub-category. LinkedIn allows you to create a widget on your homepage through which you can subscribe to an Answers category, or you can simply import the rss feed into the reader of your choice. All it takes is a once-a-day check to stay on top of your category for chances for your organization to display expertise.

this is important to do on any social networking site, but it’s particularly im- portant to do on LinkedIn when so many people are focused on receiving something for themselves or their business. the best way to give to others would be to make recommendations. people are asking for recommendations all the time, when they haven’t writ- ten any for others first. The more you recommend others without asking for one in return, the more it will give them a refreshing feeling about you and the more they’ll want to be helpful in return. making introductions is also a great way to give. If you are try- ing to make a name for yourself, connect two people who you think could help each other build their businesses and achieve their goals.

t pains me to see when people only have fewer than 100 connections, and they think that having a “small trusted network” is the way to go. that’s a joke, and those with that mind set are going to be asking themselves why their message isn’t spreading to the world and why they haven’t achieved their marketing goals yet. you never know where an opportunity or big breakthrough can come from. If you only share ideas with those you know and don’t branch out to connect with new people, then you will only know about a limited amount of opportuni- ties, and the same people who you talk to on a daily basis will be helping you connect with the same limited network. It’s a never-ending circle of limita- tions, and it’s time you break through that mind set if you haven’t already. start adding your personal LinkedIn link to your email signature, on other social networking sites, on your business cards, and anywhere else you think would help inspire others to connect with you. once you start receiving 10-20 inbound invitations to connect on a daily basis, then you know you’re doing a good job marketing yourself.

every time you send an invitation to connect with someone, make it personal. take out anything generic, and make it as personal as possible. that way the person will remember who you are, and will be more likely to follow up with you if you con- tact that person in the future. Your profile should also include a personal element. Instead of making it look like a boring resume with a bunch of bullet point achievements, share your personal voice. tell people who you are and who you help. place this information throughout your headline, summary, and the rest of your profile. Adding this will make others want to connect with you instead of putting them to sleep with your boring resume.

An earlier section of this ebook talked about how to use advanced applications to create a full profile. They are also designed to help you market yourself better. there are other applications to help you showcase your creative design work, your slide show presentations, whitepapers, tweets, and you can even set a video of yourself to auto play when someone lands on your profile using the SlideShare or Google document application. If you are looking to promote an event, then use the events application to help you spread your event in a viral way throughout the entire LinkedIn community. there are a number of applications you can use to help market yourself. Just start try- ing them out, and see what fits your needs best.

people need to be led in the right direction that helps you achieve your goals. You can’t just expect people to come to your LinkedIn profile and learn about some of things you do without telling them what to do next. If you don’t create a call-to-action, then you are guaranteed to get less than what you desire. one way to create a call-to-action is by customizing your website links. Linke- dIn lets you post three links, and instead of having them say “my blog,” make it say “contact me Here” or “download my free report.” the more direct you can be, the better. Also, in your summary, after you tell people who you are, who you help, and how you can help them, tell them how they can and should get in touch with you. whatever your goal, tell them to contact you or do some- thing in a way that best meets your needs.

As you’re interacting on LinkedIn, you’re also us- ing it as a tool to build your contact database and community. How is that community growing over time? be sure to track the growth of your personal LinkedIn network and perhaps the networks of your employees. Hubspot’s software, for instance, offers social media analytics that will enable you to evaluate your reach.

did you start a LinkedIn group? How is that grow- ing over time? Are people discussing different top- ics and responding on their own? LinkedIn offers in-depth group analytics for you to monitor prog- ress. creating a self-sustaining group that grows with a natural momentum would be a great feat!

be able to report on your developing thought leadership on LinkedIn. Are you giving and receiving multiple recom- mendations? How many questions have you answered? How many of your responses were voted “best Answer?”

If you plan to develop and execute a specific LinkedIn campaign, be sure totake a snapshot of your progress before and after your campaign so you canreport on its effectiveness.

As you are growing your LinkedIn presence, are you also driving profile visitorsor group members back to your personal or company website? Is that trafficgrowing over time?

Bottom line is bottom line! The best way to understand if LinkedIn is workingas a marketing tool is to measure its effectiveness at driving leads and sales.Have you used LinkedIn to interact with a lead and close a deal? How much business are you earning from LinkedIn? you’ll need an integrated marketing software to give you this information and help you prove the roI of your pro- motional efforts.

this is your best opportunity to make a great first impression, and it is essen- tial to attracting connections.

3.
1. Choose a partner2. Introduce yourself3. Commit to do ONE thing you learn4. Connect outside of this workshop5. Check up with each other 14-Mar-12 3

4.
C.M.A. + I use personal examples, because well…I can, however those were only used in the LIVE presentation. On slideshare, they have been removed. Sorry! + This presentation is not my own…see sources. + I’m not serious all the time. Even saying that makes me yawn. + This is for you. Make it so. Interrupt. + This is for not just you. Be mindful of your neighbor’s skill – (or lack thereof) 14-Mar-12 4

49.
5. PERFORM BLIND “REVERSE” AND COMPANY REFERENCECHECKS + Check references for a potential boss or company you are interviewing at.6. INCREASE THE RELEVANCY OF YOUR JOB SEARCH + Use advanced search to find where people with experience like yours work. Search using keywords relevant to your field.7. MAKE YOUR INTERVIEW GO SMOOTHER + Learn more about people you are meeting so you can discuss common interests and acquaintances. It’s better than awkward silences. 14-Mar-12 53

50.
8. GAUGE THE HEALTH OF THE COMPANY + Do an advanced search for a company (uncheck “Current Companies only”). You will find the rate of turnover and if people are abandoning ship.9. GAUGE THE HEALTH OF THE INDUSTRY + Thinking of investing or working in a particular sector? Learn more by finding people who work for competitors or failed companies.10. TRACK STARTUPS + Find out who is doing new startups by searching for “stealth” or “new startup.” Sort by degrees to see people closest to you first. 14-Mar-12 54